Dog Teeth
by Saralenas
Summary: After the death of her parents, Elena struggles to get back into the routine of her old life. When she starts dating Stefan, she thinks things are finally looking up. However, when Stefan's older brother pays a visit to town, Elena finds her life once again falling into darkness.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys. I had chapters 1-12 posted here, but then the story got deleted. If you still want to read the whole story/get updates on new chapters, please follow it here instead: archiveofourown(.org)/users/Saralena/**

**Thanks for your support. Love you guys. :)**

* * *

Though I reached to use the knocker, the door was already open an inch, and swung in as soon as I put pressure on it. There was a moment of hesitation mixed with a sliver of confusion. Usually there was something wrong when people just left their front doors not only unlocked, but open, right?

I leaned in, craning my neck around the partially open door to catch a glimpse of the dim room beyond.

"Stefan?" My voice echoed, and I took a cautious step inside. I waited, held my breath, and still got no reply. I felt my feet moving forward, as if they were acting on their own, deeper into the house.

Dark. That's how I would describe it. Dark, wood walls, and dark, wood floors. Enormous shadows and little, flickering reflections of light from the candles littered around the hall.

I saw his school bag slouched on a chair. Some of its contents had fallen out, and were scattered on the nearby floorboard, as if the bag had been tossed carelessly, or thrown. I felt a bullet of ice shoot down my spine, and little rows of goose bumps pump their way up my arms. Something felt off.

"Stefan?" I tried his name again, because although I hadn't received an answer the first time, the house didn't feel completely empty.

I rounded the corner, and my subconscious fear dissolved as my mouth dropped open. I sucked in a small breath at the sight in front of me; an enormous stone fireplace, its mantle stretching to the high ceiling, flooded by the light of the cathedral windows around it. The ground was an organized mess of beautifully detailed carpets, and plush red furniture filled the remaining spaces. I wondered if maybe I'd come to the wrong house. Did Stefan really live in such a lavish place?

I let the quiet of the home settle around me until the silence built up a stinging pressure in my ears. If Stefan wasn't here, I should leave.

I turned abruptly, but before I could make a move to leave through the open exit, a sound caught my ears. I froze, and locked my eyes with the sunny porch beyond the door. I felt my chest tighten, and for a moment I felt an absurd fear.

Suddenly, a black storm of movement and sound fired towards me from outside, and my scream caught in my throat. I spun around, attempting to stumble out of the crazed crow's path, and lost sight of it when I found myself nose to nose with a stone cold glare.

I felt my heart trip over itself in my chest, and I jumped back a little. In a flash of terror, the mix between a scream and a sharp gasp scrambling together in my throat came out as nothing more than a silent choke.

The emotionless face of the man softened into a smirk. His head cocked to the side and his eyes narrowed, the sneer on his lips stretching into something more sinister and much more arrogant.

"I-I'm sorry for barging in," My voice shook, and my phrase sounded less like solid words and more like a breathy whisper. The heart in my chest still beat ferociously, despite the rickety breaths I'd already managed to inhale in an attempt to calm it. "The door w-was open..." My voice trailed off as I cast a quick glance over my shoulder. The heavy door was shut tight.

"You must be Elena." The man's voice grounded me back to the moment, and I turned around to meet his eyes. They looked less sinister than the second before, just a delicate, faded blue catching in the candlelight that danced around us. He kept my gaze as the muscles in his face relaxed into a softer, more inviting smile, and made no move to distance himself from me.

"I'm Damon—Stefan's brother." The man's stare made an almost unnoticeable sweep of my body before returning to my face, and his smile widened.

"He… didn't tell me he had a brother."

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag. Please—come." He finally moved from his grounded spot in the entranceway, and reached an arm around my shoulders, ushering me into the fireplace room. "I'm sure Stefan will be along any second."

I felt my uneasiness start to die down as we padded into the room, and our footsteps fell in time with one another. I was once again taken aback by the room, and I tipped my chin up to look at the arched ceiling.

"Wow. This is your living room?"

"Living room. Parlor. Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste." I moved my curtain of hair behind one ear as he spoke, and felt my own lips melting into a slight, yet astonished smile. The room, no, the whole house, was a work of art.

"I see why my brother's so smitten." His next set of words bumped me out of my trance, and I raised an eyebrow in reply.

"It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one." A sigh graced his lips, and a faint crease appeared between his brows. "Nearly destroyed him."

"The last one?" My voice hooked on a note of uncertainty, confusion.

"Yeah, Katherine. His girlfriend?" I bit my lip, gave the slightest shake of my head. "Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet…"

"Nope."

"Oops… Well, I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound."

I shifted uncomfortably at his words, and focused my glance over his shoulder. I felt my cheeks burn, but with what? Embarrassment? Or anger at the fact that I might actually be nothing more than a rebound girl?

"We all know how those relationships end, Elena."

"You say it like every relationship is doomed to end." I turned back to him, rolled back my shoulders as I spoke and tried to make my voice sound more confident than I felt.

"I'm a fatalist." He smiled again, warmly, letting me know it was a joke. Then, without turning around or so much as breaking our stare, he murmured, "Hello, Stefan."

I whipped around, and there he stood. Though I immediately brightened, and felt the last trace of uncertainty or fear vanish from my head, the atmosphere in the room felt a hundred times heavier.

"Elena. I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan didn't so much as glance over at me. His eyes were dark, glued viciously to the back of Damon's head, and his broad shoulders were hunched over. Angry, tense, ready to snap, and pounce, and fight. I tried to brush his stance off, quickly consoling myself that I'd just caught him off guard at the wrong time. So I kept my smile, and the bubbly step in my walk, and continued towards him.

"I know, I should've called. I just—"

"Oh, don't be silly." Damon cut me off, and quickly fell in step with me again. "You're welcome any time. Isn't she, Stefan?"

When he didn't answer, Damon shot me a sideways glance, and I noticed that his smile had dissolved back into that cocky smirk from before.

"You know, I should break out the family photo albums," He turned to face me full-on, and reached out to put a gentle hand on my arm. "or some home movies. But, I have to warn you, he wasn't always such a looker." He laughed at his own joke, and I joined him, trying to lift the tension that was rapidly settling over the room like a suffocating smoke.

"Thank you for stopping by, Elena. Nice to see you." In unison, our heads shot back up to Stefan. He spoke to me, but his voice was ice cold, and his burning glare never left Damon. I wondered whether he was joking, or just in a really crappy mood. There was an awkward pause, and I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Yeah, I should probably go..." I took in a deep breath, stretched out the syllables of my sentence as I tried to catch Stefan's eyes. With no success, I turned to the other boy at my side. "It was nice to meet you, Damon."

Damon's face became all serious for a moment, and he stooped down so we were at eye level, those sky eyes piercing my own.

"Great meeting you too, Elena." Without breaking eye contact, he took a firm hold of my hand and brought it up to his lips, smiled as he kissed me. His mouth was warm, and soft against my skin. I felt an excited flutter stir in the pit of my stomach and, flustered, ripped my hand away all too quickly.

I went to leave, yet Stefan stood blocking the doorway. Still as a statue, his expression definitely harder than one. It was as if I didn't even exist. All of his attention was focused on Damon.

"Stefan?" A muscle twitched in his jaw, and his eyebrows knit more closely together.

"_Stefan?_" My voice finally seemed to register and he shifted to the side to let me pass without so much as a goodbye. A spark of instant frustration flickered in me, and it took quite a bit of my strength not to roll my eyes. Having a bad day or not, he had no reason to be rude. I brushed past him and strode out the door in a couple clean steps, letting the heavy slab of wood slam with just a slight bit of spunk behind me.

* * *

By the next day, I still hadn't heard anything from Stefan. It wasn't like we had each other's cell numbers anyways. That's what I was planning on getting when I went to his house the previous day. I thought maybe we could chat, and exchange numbers, and then send flirty texts until we spoke in person. I shouldn't have been surprised that things didn't exactly go as planned. After all, I wasn't exactly a relationship expert. All I'd ever had before was Matt, and he and Stefan were as different as day and night. Open and cheerful, where Stefan was mysterious and brooding… clean-cut and way too nice of a person, while Stefan seemed to have a darker side.

Nonetheless, I arrived at school with a chip on my shoulder, which continued to stay there through all my classes, especially when I saw Stefan's empty seat in history. I'd never been one to hold a grudge though, so by the time evening hit, my determination to keep up my annoyance act had rendered me exhausted. Maybe I just wasn't ready for a new relationship. If I could barely handle getting the cold shoulder from a boy who I talked to, what, like three times, how was I supposed to actually deal with all the baggage that came with a real relationship? I tried voicing those exact thoughts to my best friends, but all they kept telling me to do was to just relax, let loose, and go for it.

Later that night I was gathered in central Mystic Falls with the rest of the town. There was supposed to be a comet, a giant flaming rock that streaks across the sky only once every few hundred years. I swear this town would find an excuse to make some cheesy celebration out of anything. My resolutions and top priorities were to get back to my old self, but I just wasn't in the mood to be out in a field making a big deal about some shooting star.

"Hi." Stefan's voice caught me off guard— that was for sure. And while Caroline was all smiles, dragging Bonnie away from her place at my side to give us the privacy to speak, I was more than a little reluctant.

"Hi."

Stefan sighed, and brought one of his hands around to rub the back of his neck.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't being myself."

"You seem to spend a lot of time apologizing." My interest was piqued, I wasn't exactly planning on him approaching me on what had happened, as he had seemed to have make it pretty clear that he wasn't interested.

"Yesterday wasn't about you, okay?"

I nodded, finally connecting my gaze with his.

"You didn't tell me that you had a brother."

"We're not close. He came to town unexpectedly."

I felt myself relax a little bit. So he had some deep-rooted family issues that turned up at a bad time, which I guessed explained his tense composure the previous day. I'd been overreacting, again, like I always do. I was getting as bad as Caroline. I shouldn't let my insecurities get the best of me. I chose my next words carefully, and spoke them even slower.

"Damon… he also mentioned your ex girlfriend… Katherine?" Stefan stiffened, and I felt the space between us become icy and tension-filled.

"The past is the past, Elena. You should stay away from my brother."

* * *

Much later, when the sky was just a sheet of black silk, I found myself winding back up the porch to the boarding house. I rang the bell this time, instead of just barging in like before, and felt a rush of relief when the door swung open. Stefan looked surprised, but he smiled down at me all the same. Behind him, the hallway was bathed in soft yellow light, and all the creeping shadows had been washed away by the warm glow.

My confidence was back, or at least I had convinced myself it was. My pulse was racing, and I even think my words quavered a little as I spoke, but something told me I was doing the right thing. The only way to move on with my life was to keep pressing forward.

Stefan followed me out onto the porch. Watched me with his big, gentle eyes, and listened as I poured my heart out to him. After that he'd presented me with a gift—a beautiful locket filled with nice smelling herbs. He was saying how if I would always wear the necklace, my safety could be guaranteed, but as he spoke, I found myself not even really truly listening to what he was saying. In his presence, I just felt warm, and safe, and happy. Stefan was like a fresh new beginning. He had his problems, and his ups and downs, like any normal human being did, but being around him just made me feel like I had nothing to fear. So, as he started to lean towards me, his head tilted ever so slightly to the side, I was the one to perch up and close the rest of the distance between us.

It was the sweetest of kisses. So delicate I could barely even tell it happened. Stefan's hand cupping my cheek felt as slight as a butterfly kiss, and before I knew it he had pulled away. His touch had left me dizzy and lightheaded and desperately craving something closer and deeper and longer.

"Night, Elena." His words were soft as a lullaby, and I replayed them over and over in my head as I tossed around in my sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Reminder that this fanfic got deleted, and I'm not allowed to post it all up again. If you want to read more, please check it out here: archiveofourown(.org)/users/Saralena/works**

**Chapter 13 is now posted up! :)**

**Thanks for all the support, guys. Much love~**

* * *

After school the next day, Bonnie and I were making our way down to the football field for cheer practice. I hadn't so much as stretched all summer, so it felt weird to be in the uniform again. I paused at the top of the hill, watching the lines of girls already starting to warm up on the field.

"Are you going to be okay?" Bonnie wrapped an arm around my waist and I leaned over to rest my head on her shoulder. Even though it had been months since the death of my parents, everything I did, everyone I saw, and everywhere I went still reminded me of them, and of course it would be wrong to forget. But I had to start moving on, or rather moving _back_ to my old life. Old Elena was fun. She liked parties and cheerleading and making out with Matt in the locker rooms between practice.

"Me and Stefan kissed last night." The words came out suddenly, surprising myself as well as Bonnie, who immediately pulled away from the hug and presented me with one of her biggest smiles.

"Me and Care have totally been calling this since that party last week! You two make, like, the hottest couple."

"He gave this to me too." Even though I was in uniform, I still had Stefan's silver necklace laced lightly around my throat. Bonnie leaned forward and picked it off the front of my shirt, letting the pendant roll around in the palm of her hand.

"Wow, it's gorgeous. And it looks really old—like some family heirloom or something. Guess you guys are definitely official now."

I nodded in response, something at the pit of my stomach wondering how Matt would take the blow. We'd been broken up for a few months, but he was still one of my oldest friends and it was quite apparent that he still possessed feelings for me. I let out a breath and forced myself to shove any negative or anxiety-inducing thoughts down my throat, and let them settle in a dark corner of my core where I wouldn't be able to revisit them until later. There was only time for positivity in cheer practice, after all.

"I'll race you down the hill, Bon!" I took a head start as soon as the words escaped my mouth, and started to spring down the steep little hill, soon feeling the ground level out beneath my feet as I joined the rest of the cheer squad. Bonnie came in panting beside me but a moment later, jokingly mumbling something about me being a dirty rotten cheater.

The two of us sat on a clean-cut patch of grass to start our stretches, and Bonnie attempted to check her text messages and she reached to touch her toes.

"No word from Caroline yet?" Bonnie shook her head at my question, and worried creases appeared on her forehead as she typed out yet another text message to send to the girl. Caroline Forbes had never missed a day of school in her life, so by second period today, Bonnie and I had decided that she had to be either dying or already dead.

"Whoa." As Bonnie twisted around to put her phone back in her bag, her mouth fell open in shock. I followed her line of sight down to the nearby parking lot, where the purr of an engine accompanied a slick black convertible. It came to a smooth stop at the curb, and out jumped, who else, but Miss Caroline Forbes herself from the passenger seat.

"Oh my god… That must be the mystery guy she disappeared with last night." Up until that very moment, I had heard no mention of the so-called mystery guy, let alone that she'd gone home with him. As Caroline sashayed from the vehicle, I craned my neck to get a better look at the driver. Even from the short distance away I could see that he was muscular, with a thick head of black hair. He turned back towards the field, and seemed to be staring right at me. The man slowly, yet purposefully removed his sunglasses, never breaking my gaze, and my stomach did a nervous little flip.

"That's not a mystery guy, Bon. That's Damon Salvatore." I kept my eyes on him, partially from fear and partially from curiosity, as I watched Caroline start to head towards us.

"Salvatore!?" Bonnie jumped to her feet, pulling me up with her and grabbing me by the shoulders so that I faced her. "As in Stefan?"

Caroline made it to our sides, and approached us, a wild smirk on her face. She was one of my best friends, and had been since I was just a kid, but in that moment she made sure to catch my narrowed eyes and shoot back a prissy little glare of her own.

"I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind." The blond-haired vixen brushed past us after the comment had left her lips, and disappeared into the crowd of girls, immediately starting to call out commands. Bonnie was laughing, and shaking her head at the hilarity of the whole situation. What were the chances after all, that two best friends started dating two brothers, right? Bonnie gave one last stretch to the sky before she started to make her way over to formation, shooting me a _Caroline will be Caroline _look over her shoulder. Before I fell in place with the group myself, I waited for a moment, swiveled back to see the convertible again.

Damon acknowledged my attention towards him with a wink, and this sultry little smirk that left my cheeks burning bright red against my will. He propped his sunglasses back onto his face before revving the engine, and disappearing around the corner.

* * *

Thanks to the combination of not practicing for a few months, along with the surprise of Caroline dating Stefan's older brother, my concentration had been thrown for the rest of practice. After a few miserable attempts at my trying to keep up with the routines, Caroline had put me in the back of the group, and eventually moved me straight to the bench.

I slumped against the wooden seat, and craned my neck up concentrate on the clear sky. Old Elena wouldn't have been distracted so easily. She would've been able to get through practice no problem.

I stood up and started to walk across the expanse of grass, towards the others side of the field. I stole a glance over one shoulder to make sure none of my teammates were watching me escape. Even if Caroline did notice me, which probably wasn't likely as she was so wrapped up in practice, she definitely wouldn't have missed me,

On the other side of the field, football practice was just ending, and I spotted Stefan making his way back to the school locker rooms. With the memory of last night's kiss freshly resurfacing in my mind, I let myself become a flurry of warm, happy feelings, and jog up to him.

"Hey." My call was enough to get him to turn around, and he smiled. By the time we'd reached each other, the other football players were gone inside, and we were alone on the field. I reached up to touch a hand to the side of his face, and he made a move to take it away.

"I'm all sweaty."

"I don't care." I reached up on my tiptoes to meet his lips, wanting more of a deeper, hungrier kiss, but all I got was a little peck on the lips, despite the fact that I hung onto the back of his neck for a few moments after that. I felt a bit dejected, but instead of letting it get to me, I decided to flip the situation around.

"You haven't been able to meet my friends yet. You should come over for dinner tonight! We can all hang out."

He seemed to roll the idea around in his mind for a long moment, before finally giving in and agreeing.

"Great! I'll see you tonight! Around 7:00?" In a much better mood, I turned to skip back to cheer practice to tell Bonnie, but Stefan's gentle arm held me back.

"Elena, you'd look absolutely stunning with curly hair." It was a weird comment, completely out of the blue, even a little off-putting. Either way, I decided to take it as a compliment nonetheless. I waved to Stefan and blew him a kiss as I twirled back through the bleachers.

* * *

That night, after several attempts at cooking something edible, even with Aunt Jenna's help, Bonnie and I caved and ordered takeout. Without needing to cook a big meal before Stefan arrived, we had a bit of extra time, so I ended up dragging my friend upstairs and begging her to curl my hair.

After much convincing on my part, I had myself seated in front of the small vanity in my bedroom, with Bonnie working away at my hair from behind. As she shaped the thick ringlets around my face, I worked on my makeup. I filled in my eyebrows, put on black eyeliner, and a deep colored eye shadow that swooped across my lids like a bird's wing. I finished off the look with a dark lipstick as Bonnie continued to shape my hair.

"Why couldn't Caroline come again?" I bent close to the mirror, painting on some last minute mascara.

"Something about already having dinner plans with Damon. You know how Caroline gets with new boyfriends…" Bonnie's words trailed off as she let the last curl fall against my back, and leaned down to unplug the curling iron from the wall. "Wow."

"What? Is it too much?" I fussed with myself in front of the mirror, and before Bonnie could answer there was a polite, yet loud knock at the door. We both stood and made our way downstairs to answer it.

"You look great."

* * *

Dinner went way better than expected. Stefan had his eyes on me all night, and he complimented both my hair and makeup multiple times, making me ask myself why I didn't make myself look that good all the time. After we'd finished supper, I volunteered to take everyone's dirty plates to the kitchen, and stood to start collecting them. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

My eyes connected with Jenna, silently asking if she was expecting anyone, but she only shrugged. I left the small pile of plates of the edge of the table to make my way over to the front door.

"Surprise!" Caroline was all sunshine and smiles, and pushed herself past me and inside the house. "We brought dessert." She stuffed a slightly disheveled pie into my arms on her way by, and skipped the rest of the way inside to greet Bonnie.

"I hope you don't mind, Elena." Damon stood on the doorstep, his eyes all innocent and his smile nothing but welcoming. I felt Stefan come up behind me, and maneuver his way around so that he stood positioned in some sort of protective stance against Damon.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan's voice was low and emotionless, and I saw the muscles in his back tense up and ripple beneath his shirt.

Damon, on the other hand, seemed to just brush off his brother's disdain towards him, and kept his eyes glued to me.

"I'm just waiting for Elena to invite me in." I shrugged, and tried to poke my head around Stefan's shield of a body.

"Oh yeah, you can—"

"No, no. He can't… he can't stay." Stefan cut me off and put up his hands on either side of the doorway to further block me and Damon from interacting. "We're just finishing up anyways."

"Damon, it's fine, just come in." I turned my back on the feuding brothers to make my way back to the kitchen, this time not forcing myself to hold back as I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to get in the middle of whatever was going on between them. So, if Caroline was dating Damon, then he was welcome in my house as far as I was concerned.

"You have a beautiful home, Elena." Damon had somehow pushed past his sibling and come up beside me. His shadow was long enough and perfectly positioned to fall across me, and cover my view in a dark shade. Stefan had frozen in the open doorway, obviously angry.

"Thank you."

While Bonnie served the pie, I left Stefan to cool off by the door as I took the dinner plates into the kitchen. I set them on the counter, then moved to fill the sink with warm, soapy water.

"I got one more." Damon's husky voice caused me to turn around, and he tossed a mug at me. I panicked, and missed the throw, but he was faster and ducked down to grab it before it could even come close to the ground. I laughed as he returned it safely to my hands, and gave it a little pat.

"Thank you. Nice save." We were both smiling.

"I like you, Elena. You know how to laugh. And you make Stefan smile, which is something I haven't seen in a very long time."

"Are you talking about… Katherine?"

Damon rolled his shoulders back a little, and tilted his head to one side. He eyes narrowed a little, not in a threatening way, but curiously.

"Why did they break up?" I knew I was being nosey, but I couldn't help but ask.

"She died. In a fire. Tragic fire." My heart sank a little, and I felt a flash of pity towards Stefan.

"What was she like?" The questions kept rolling off my tongue, but my voice was quiet, not quite a whisper, with my words rising and falling in genuine curiosity.

"She was beautiful. A lot like you in that department." I felt myself go red instinctively, and hoped he hadn't noticed. "She was very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but she was sexy, and seductive."

I wanted to bite my tongue, but against better judgement, I tipped my chin up to look at him and spoke one last question.

"So which one of you dated her first?"

"Nicely deduced." A tight smile stretched across his mouth. "Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine." I turned back towards the dishes and brought them into the hot water to soak. I felt Damon approach me from behind, and I saw him lean against the counter top beside me.

"And Elena," I turned my attention back to him for a moment and his eyes glanced over my face. He stretched out a hand and took one of my ringlets to wrap around his finger. "you don't need to change yourself for anyone. Know that."

"I'm sorry about Katherine, Damon. You lost her too."


	3. Chapter 3

**NOTE: Chapter 14 is now posted up on archive of our own! (Since I cannot post the whole of this story here as it's too violent)**

**archiveofourown(.org)/users/Saralena/works**

* * *

The next evening was the first football game of the season. Once again, Caroline had benched me, so instead of being forced to watch the rest of the team succeed in their routine, I decided to go get some air. I ran my hands up and down my bare arms and ground my teeth together in an attempt to keep them from chattering. It was getting chilly out.

After a few minutes of bearing the cold, I gave up and started to make my way to the parking lot, weaving around until I found my car. I was pretty sure I'd left a sweater for myself on the backseat. I unlocked the car and pulled open one of the doors, sticking my head inside. Nope, no jacket of any kind.

I closed the door with a frustrated sigh, but when I turned back around to leave Damon was almost an inch away from me. The surprise made me gasp loudly and stumble backwards into the end of my car, my heart skipping a beat and fluttering out of control. Why did he always have to sneak up behind me?

"You scared me. W-what are you doing here?" He was staring back at me with a hint of a smirk, clearly amused, but his eyes were flat, and almost angry.

"Waiting for Stefan." His reply was simple, curt. His eyes bore into me, and he didn't even so much as blink.

"The game hasn't started yet…" I shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, and tried to find somewhere else to look besides his intense stare. "You can probably still go catch him in the locker room."

"Mmhm… I think I'll wait for him here." He took a step closer to me, and I took a step back, backing myself tight against the bumper of my vehicle.

"Caroline's just about to start her routine too."

"God, I need a break from that girl. I don't see us going anywhere in the bigger picture, you know?" He chuckled. "She talks more than I can listen."

"Well, um, I should get back to the game then…" My words were meant to dissmiss him, and I made a move to push past his towering form, but he took a firm hold of my shoulder to turn me back around.

"I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable, Elena. That's not my intention."

"Yes, it is." I shook his hand off of me and crossed my arms around my chest. The situation was mighty awkward, and I had to admit that the man even scared me a little. "Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say."

"You're right. I do have other intentions," I raised an eyebrow in question to his words. "and so do you."

"Oh, really?" I crossed my arms tighter around myself, tossed my hair over one shoulder.

"Mmmhm…" Damon leaned much too close, and lightly spread both palms against my car, on either side of me. I was trapped against him. "I see how you look at me. You want me."

"_Excuse_ me?"

"You find yourself drawn to me." He leaned even closer, so that I could feel his warm breath against my cheek. "You think about me even when you don't want to think about me." Our hips were touching now, and my line of vision was filled up completely with his eyes. They stared into my own. "And right now, you want to kiss me."

He tilted his head, started to lean in to my lips. I was taken aback; completely shocked that he could be this sleazy. For a second I was completely frozen, but when I finally snapped out of it and gained control of my body again, I cracked my hand through the air, slapping him hard against the cheek.

"What the hell?" I shoved against his chest to get his body farther away from me, as he lifted up a hand to rub the spot where I'd hit him. "I don't know what game you're trying to play with Stefan here, but I don't want any part of it." At this point I was seething mad, and disgusted. "I don't know what happened in the past, Damon, but let's get one thing straight—I am not Katherine."

I strode away, my footsteps carrying me quickly back towards the cheering crowd of students. When I looked back to see if Damon was following me, I saw that he'd disappeared. Stefan was right about his brother being no good, that was for sure.


End file.
